Obscenity Charges Dropped Against Abercrombie & Fitch

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – In a burst of common sense, Virginia
Beach Deputy City Attorney Mark Stiles said that he would drop charges
of "Display of Obscene Materials at Business Establishments Open to
Juveniles" against the Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) store in the
Lynnhaven Mall.

Although labeled "obscene," what the law actually
prohibits is "Any
picture, photograph, drawing, sculpture, motion picture film or similar visual
representation or image of a person or portion of the human body which depicts
nudity, sexual conduct or sadomasochistic abuse and which is harmful to
juveniles." While Stiles said the photos displayed at the A&F location
– one of three shirtless men, one of whose ass crack is slightly visible; the
other of a topless woman whose breast, but not areola, is somewhat exposed –
might technically meet that portion of the city code, it would be difficult to
prove that the images met the Miller
criteria for obscenity, since neither depicted explicit sexual acts nor
apparently offended community standards.

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"You
might see that typical vision walking down a street," Stiles said of the
photo with the men.

The
incident began when Virginia Beach police demanded that the management at the
A&F store remove the "offending" photos, and when that manager,
who has not been named, refused, the police issued a citation under Sec. 22-31
of the criminal code. Police also seized the mural-sized photos.

According
to police spokesman Adam Bernstein, the police seizure was "prompted by
several customer complaints."

The
A&F manager, if convicted, could have received up to one year in jail and a
$2,000 fine for displaying the photos, which would not have garnered a second
glance in, for instance, New York City or Los Angeles.

A
spokesperson for Abercrombie & Fitch corporate headquarters, located in New
Albany, Ohio, noted that the photos "show less skin than you see any
summer day at the beach. And certainly less than the plumber working on your
kitchen sink."

News
reports have not indicated whether the confiscated photos have been returned to
the store.